Computer-implemented deductive reasoning game

ABSTRACT

A computer implemented method includes presenting a text passage to at least one participant, the text passage including a set of text fragments, each of the set of text fragments which provide clues as to a correct answer to an overall question. The method further includes receiving the participant&#39;s answers to sub-questions associated with the set of text fragments, and receiving a participant&#39;s selected answer to an overall question related to the text passage. The method further includes computing a score for the at least one participant, based on the selected answer to the overall question and the answers to the sub-questions.

This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 61/103,063, filed Oct. 6, 2008, and U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 60/991,032, filed Nov. 29, 2007, the disclosures ofwhich are incorporated herein in their entireties by reference.

BACKGROUND

The exemplary embodiment relates to a deductive reasoning game and to amethod of providing such a game to participants via a network, e.g.,through a web browser.

Web-based deductive reasoning games provide participants with theopportunity to test their deductive skills by reading a short mysterystory and then identifying one of a group of suspects as the perpetratorof the crime laid out in the story. Typically feedback is immediate,with the participant being advised as to whether he or she has correctlyidentified the correct suspect. However, the participant has no way ofknowing whether he correctly interpreted all of the clues in the story.

Comprehension tests given to students also require students to employdeduction in their answers to questions, based on their understanding ofa passage of text. Students generally find such tests boring, andteachers often do not have the time to provide sufficient feedback toallow students to fully appreciate their mistakes and improve upon theircomprehension skills.

There remains a need to provide participants with a deductive reasoninggame which will provide entertainment while also providing feedback forimproving the participants' comprehension and deductive reasoningskills.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

In accordance with one aspect of the exemplary embodiment, a computerimplemented method includes presenting a text passage to at least oneparticipant, the text passage including a set of text fragments, each ofa subset of the set of text fragments providing a clue as to an answerto an overall question related to the text passage. Provision is madefor the participant to input answers to sub-questions associated withtext fragments which the participant deduces provide a clue as to theanswer to the overall question and for the participant to select ananswer to the overall question. A score is computed for the at least oneparticipant based on the selected answer to the overall question and theinput answers to the sub-questions.

In another aspect, a system for playing a deductive reasoning gameincludes memory which stores instructions for presenting a text passageto at least one participant, the text passage comprising a set of textfragments, each of a subset of the set of text fragments providing aclue as to a correct answer to the overall question. A processor incommunication with the memory receives a participant's selected answerto an overall question related to the text passage, receives aparticipant's answers to sub-questions associated with selected ones ofthe set of text fragments, and computes a score for the at least oneparticipant based on the selected answer to the overall question and thereceived answers to the sub-questions.

In another aspect, a computer implemented method includes displaying ona screen a text passage describing a mystery to at least oneparticipant, the text passage comprising a set of text fragments whichincludes a predefined subset of text fragments, each of the textfragments in the subset providing a clue as to an overall answer to themystery. The method optionally includes identifying, to the at least oneparticipant, how many text fragments there are in the predefined subsetof text fragments. The method further includes providing for theparticipant to interactively select from the set of text fragments, agroup of the text fragments and for each of the group of text fragments,to input an answer to a sub-question and to input an answer an overallquestion related to solving the mystery. The method further includesreceiving the participant's input answers to the sub-questions and tothe overall question and computing a score for the at least oneparticipant based on the input answer to the overall question and theinput answers to the sub-questions which takes into account whether theparticipant correctly identified predefined subset of text fragments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a system for interactiveparticipation in a web-based game;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary screenshot of a web browser displaying aweb-based deductive reasoning game in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of an exemplary screenshotduring the playing of the deductive reasoning game;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of an exemplary screenshotduring the playing of the deductive reasoning game, showingparticipant-selected text fragments highlighted;

FIG. 5 illustrates instructions for playing the web-based game which maybe displayed by the exemplary web-browser;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary screenshot of a web browser displaying aweb-based deductive reasoning game in accordance with another embodimentof the game; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a method for playing a web-based game which may beperformed by the system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the exemplary embodiment relate to a web-based deductivereasoning game which provides participants with feedback on the extentto which they made correct inferences in reaching a conclusion as towhich of a set of choices best fits a question relating to a passage oftext. In various aspects, the participant is required to find andidentify the clues to solving the mystery embedded within the story. Theparticipant is then required to show how the clue aids in solving themystery. The game thus serves as an educational tool for assistingparticipants, such as schoolchildren, in acquiring reading andcomprehension skills.

As used herein, a participant can be any person who interacts with aninteractive game through his or her computer device. The exemplary gameis web-based. By web-based, it is meant that a plurality of participantdevices communicate via a network with a common server which hosts atleast part of the software instructions which are executed in the courseof the game.

With reference to FIG. 1, a system for interactive participation in aweb-based game includes a participant device capable of displaying a webbrowser. By way of example, two participant devices 10, 12 are shown,although it is to be appreciated that many more of such participantdevices may be included. In the illustrated embodiment, the participantdevice may be a general purpose computing device, such as a desktopcomputer, laptop computer, portable digital assistant (PDA), mobilephone with internet capability, or a dedicated computing device. Theparticipant device is capable of communicating with a game server 14 viaa network 16, such as a wired or wireless network, e.g., a local areanetwork (LAN) or wide area network (WLAN), such as the Internet, atelephone connection, or the like. In the exemplary embodiment, theparticipant devices 10, 12 are linked to the game server via theInternet 17.

The illustrated participant device 10 (and similarly 12) includes memory18, for storing processing instructions for displaying the game andinteracting with the game server 14, and a processor 20, such as acentral processing unit (CPU), in communication with the memory 18,which executes the instructions. The device 10 also includes a display,such as a screen 21, which displays a web browser, and a user inputdevice 22, such as a keyboard, keypad, touch screen, cursor controldevice, joystick, microphone, combination thereof, or the like whereby auser interacts with the game server 14. The web browser can be operatedby a web browser software application 23, which may be stored in memory18. The web browser application enables a user to display and interactwith text, images and other information located on the website hosted bythe game server 14. Components of the participant device may beconnected via a data/control bus 24. An input/output device 25, such asa modem, allows the participant device 10 to communicate with thenetwork 16. The instructions for displaying the game and interactingwith the game server 14 may be downloaded from the game server or inputfrom a portable storage medium 26, such as a disk.

The game server 14 may be embodied in one or more computing devices andmay host a website which can be accessed through standard internetprotocols using a website address which provides access to the publicportal of the game server. For example, the game server is accessed witha representation of its IP address in the format www.5minutemystery.com,or other suitable address. The game server may cause Web pages to bedisplayed by the participant device, which may be written in HypertextMarkup Language (“HTML”) or other commonly understood format. In otherembodiments, a link to the network server is displayed on theparticipant device, e.g., through installation of appropriate softwareon the participant device. In yet other embodiments, a participant mayreceive a periodic, e.g., daily link to the site via email.

The exemplary game server 14 includes memory 27 and a processor 28, suchas a CPU, in communication with the memory. Memory 27 storesinstructions for presenting a text passage to at least one participantand for receiving answers input by the participant. These may includeinstructions for interacting with a participant device for displayingweb pages thereon and for receiving inputs from participant devices viathe network. The memory 27 may represent any type of computer readablemedium such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM),magnetic disk or tape, optical disk, flash memory, or holographicmemory. In one embodiment, the memory 27 comprises a combination ofrandom access memory and read only memory. In some embodiments, theprocessor 28 and memory 27 may be combined in a single chip. A networkinterface 29 allows the server to communicate with other devices via thenetwork 16. Components of the server may be linked by a data/control bus30 and may be resident in a single computing device or distributed overseveral computing devices.

FIGS. 2-5 illustrate one embodiment of the game. As shown in FIG. 2,through interaction with the game server, the web browser displays apassage of text 31 on the participant's screen 21, which comprises a setof text fragments, such as sentences 32 in a natural language, such asEnglish. There may be many such text passages, with a new one releasedperiodically, such as daily or weekly. The passage of text 31 may be asingle paragraph or several paragraphs in length. In general, thepassage is one which can be read in a short period of time, such asabout five minutes. The passage 31 may be a passage of prose, such as astory, verse, a non-fiction article, or any suitable passage aimedtowards the reading level and comprehension abilities of theparticipants. Each of the text fragments 32 in the set of text fragmentswhich make up the text passage 31 can be a sentence, multiple sentences,paragraph or the like. In one embodiment, each text fragment is arrangedon a separate line. In this case, the text fragment 32 may be a completesentence, part of a sentence or parts of multiple sentences dependingupon how many words are on each line. In other embodiments the testfragments are sentences which make up a paragraph or several paragraphsof the story, as shown in FIG. 2.

An overall question 34 is displayed, for example, at the end of the textpassage 31. The overall question 34 (e.g., a question seeking theparticipant to solve the mystery) is one which can be answered throughdeductive reasoning, i.e., the overall answer is not explicitly laid outin the passage of text.

Each text fragment 32 constitutes a separate record which is a potentialclue to the solution of the mystery, i.e., in the exemplary embodiment,the participant is not informed, prior to completion of the game, whichof the text fragments are clues and which are not. In the exemplaryembodiment, a subset of the set of text fragments thus provides actualclues, while the rest of the text fragments do not. One of theparticipant's tasks is to identify, from among the potential clues,which are the actual clues to the solution of the mystery. In theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, only a predetermined number, e.g.,four, of the text fragments include actual clues (i.e., bases for aninference) to the correct answer to the overall question 34. The numberof clues in the particular passage 30 may be displayed on the screen,e.g., at 36. Four clues, for example, means there are four sentencesthat the participant needs to correctly identify as being a clue. It isto be appreciated that there could alternatively be 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, ormore clues, with the number identified. In the exemplary embodiment, theparticipant's score is a function of the number of clues correctlyidentified in addition to correctly answering the overall question 34.For example, points are awarded for correctly identifying each of theclues. In other embodiments, the participant may be provided withinformation about the number of clues, without the exact number beingprovided, such as “there are at least three clues,” there are no morethan seven clues,” “there are from 3 to 7 clues,” or the like.

The clues are generally statements from which the participant can drawreasonable inferences. For example, the text passage 31 may be a mysterystory in which the participant is asked to answer an overall question 34as to which of a set of suspects committed the crime described in thestory, how the crime was committed, or the like. As will be appreciated,any question which can be reasonably answered through a set ofinferences based on the text passage (and, where appropriate theparticipants' knowledge) is amenable to use in the exemplary embodiment.For example, in a geographical, political, or historical context, thepassage 31 may enable the participants to draw inferences as to whichstate of a set of states is the correct location, an event which has orwill take place, or a person who is the subject of the passage or isotherwise related to the passage.

For ease of discussion, the invention will be described in terms of amystery story, appreciating that it is equally applicable to othercontexts.

A list 38 of candidate answers to the question 34, which in theillustrated embodiment are names of four suspects, is displayed e.g.,adjacent the text passage 32.

The participant selects a particular text fragment 32 as a clue, e.g.,by clicking on one of the text fragments or actuating a selectable iconor other active area in the screen. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, theuser moves the cursor 40 to a candidate clue sentence 42 and clicks onthe sentence. The sentence may be highlighted, in a first color, e.g.,blue, to identify the complete sentence that the user has selected as acandidate clue. If the user does not wish to select this sentence, hemay click on another.

When the participant clicks on a text fragment 32, a drop down box 44opens up (FIG. 3). The drop down box serves as a sub-question which isrelated to the highlighted text fragment 42, which is used to input aparticipant's inference about the highlighted text fragment. In theexemplary embodiment, the participant first selects one of the candidateanswers (here a suspect name) from a drop down menu 46. The participantthen selects an inference, from a menu of inferences 48, such as one of“exonerates” and “incriminates.” The participant may be given theopportunity to save the selection by actuating a save button 50, whichcauses the information on the selection of the text fragment, candidateanswer, and inference to be stored. In other embodiments, theinformation may be automatically stored once the user clicks on theselected inference.

To assist the participant, the sentences that the participant hasselected as the clue sentences may be highlighted in some way. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 4, a second color (e.g., green) may be used tohighlight sentences, such as sentence 52 for which the participant hasselected to exonerate the suspect and a third color (e.g.) red forsentences 54 that the participant has selected to incriminate thesuspect.

After reading the passage, the participant is asked to select an overallanswer 34 from a set of candidate answers (such as select one of the setof suspects), e.g., by clicking on a selectable area of the screencorresponding to the selected answer.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, once the participant has identified four(or other predetermined number) of candidate clues, the participantproceeds to solve the mystery by identifying one of the candidateanswers 38 as the answer to the overall question 34. In the exemplaryembodiment, the participant clicks on an active area of the screen 56(e.g., entitled “solve this mystery”) in the overall question area 58 ofthe screen (FIG. 2). The area 58 includes a drop down box 60 which liststhe candidate answers (e.g., the four suspects) and clicks on one ofthem to select one of the candidate answers as the participants answerto the question. For example, the area 58 may display the words I thinkthat (______) is guilty of the crime. The participant supplies theanswer by clicking on one of the suspects.

Additionally, the game is designed to provide a score or ranking as tothe participant's deductive reasoning by providing a set ofsub-questions. The scoring of the mystery or other word problem isanalogous to the math equivalent of “showing your work.” Included inthis is the concept of finding clues and then marking them in somemanner as to whether they point to a suspect/solution or away from asuspect/solution. Finding and identifying the clues is the basis of thescoring system.

In either embodiment, the game server 14 may compute a score for theparticipant, based on whether or not the participant correctlyidentified the perpetrator and how many of the sub-questions werecorrectly answered. The score may weight the answers, e.g., by weightingthe overall answer more heavily than the answers to the sub-questions.For example, the participant may be awarded one point for each correctlyanswered sub-question and ten points for correctly answering the overallquestion. There may be a penalty for “guessing”, by deducting a partialpoint for each incorrect answer. In some embodiments, the score may onlytake into account the sub-question answers if the overall question iscorrectly answered. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, for example, theparticipant is rewarded for correctly identifying the inference of eachof the (four) text fragments which provides a clue. However, points maybe deducted if the participant picks a text fragment which does notprovide a clue.

Points can be scored even if the participant does not solve the mysterycorrectly. In order to get the maximum score, the participant must notonly solve the mystery, but must also identify all of the clues and drawthe correct inference for each. If the participant answers more than thestated number of clues, he can expect to lose points for answeringsub-questions for non-clues. For example, one scoring system may be asfollows:

1. For each sentence marked correctly, including both the correctsuspect as well as incriminate/exonerate, 2 points are awarded.

2. For each sentence incorrectly marked, 1 point is deducted. Thisincludes marking a sentence that is not a clue, marking the wrongsuspect or incorrectly marking incriminate/exonerate.

For solving the mystery, 10 points are awarded.

In the exemplary embodiment, where there are four clues, the maximumscore would be 18 points (4 clues at 2 points each plus 10 for solvingthe mystery).

Bonus points may also be awarded. For example, for more difficultmysteries, 3 bonus points could be awarded for solving the mystery or 5points if the mystery is very difficult. The level of difficulty of amystery story may be posted adjacent the passage of text 31.

Of course, other scoring protocols which provide different weights tothe sub-questions and final question are also contemplated.

The score can be used to rank a set of participants and identify awinning participant or group of winning participants from the set. Inanother embodiment, scores from participants in first and second groupsof participants may be combined or otherwise employed to allow groups ofparticipants, such as schools or classes to compete as a guild. In thecase of a school, for example, each classroom teacher may be suppliedwith a master password which allows passwords for each of the individualstudents in the class to be linked to the master password.

In the exemplary embodiment, the game server memory 27 stores answersreceived from a number of participants the processor 28 executesinstructions for computing the scores for each of the participants andany group scores/rankings. In one embodiment, the game is accessible toparticipants for a fixed time period, such as one day, and the scoresare not released by the game server until a subsequent time period, suchas the next day, when a new game may be posted. The game server 14 maybe implemented in software, hardware or a combination thereof.

The exemplary deductive reasoning game is hosted by a web site which maydisplay a home page as shown in FIG. 1 when the participant accesses thesite. The home page provides hypertext links to other pages. As examplesof such links, the home page may include some or all of the followinghypertext links:

A link 70 (“how to play”) which takes the participant to a page whichdisplays instructions for playing the game, which may be supplementedwith exemplary screen shots to illustrate the instructions. FIG. 5displays a screenshot of a first page of an exemplary set ofinstructions. A simplified version of the rules may be displayed on thehomepage prior to sign in.

A link 72 (“top sleuths”) may take the participant to another page wherescreen names of top scorers for a particular game are displayed.

A link 74 (“Leagues”) takes the participant to a page which allows aparticipant to join a league of participants who are competing againsteach other or jointly against other leagues. The user may also be ableto start a league.

A link 76 (“mystery archives”) takes the participant to a page where heor she can access an archive of prior games. The participant is notifiedof his score once the archived game is played. The archived games may bekeyword searchable, searchable by title, by author, by date or otherindexing scheme.

A link 78 takes the participant to a forum where participants candiscuss mysteries or submit their own mysteries.

A link 80 takes the participant to a page where a participant can submita mystery for consideration by the game organizers. A remuneration maybe offered for games which are posted on the site. Additionally theauthor may be attributed, as at 82.

A link 84 may be provided for schools to participate as a group.

Prior to displaying a mystery story 31, a sign in link (not shown) maybe provided for a participant to access the game by entering a passwordand/or screen name 86, or other verification of entitlement to do so.

FIG. 6 displays a screenshot of another embodiment of the game which issimilar to that shown in FIGS. 2-5, except as noted. In this embodiment,each text fragment 32 is separated from the others, e.g., as a line oftext, which may be numbered. At least some (or all) of the textfragments 32 provide a clue to the correct answer, i.e., at least someof the text fragments 32 each have a respective clue inherent in it asto the overall answer. In one embodiment, each text fragment providesonly one clue.

Each text fragment may have an associated icon 90 which, when theparticipant clicks on it, opens a drop down box 92, which may beanalogous to box 44. In the exemplary embodiment, the drop down boxdisplays a set of candidate answers/questions, such as the foursuspects. Alternatively, as for the embodiment of FIG. 2, the drop downbox 92 may open in response to the participant clicking on the sentence.These candidate answers/questions may be the same candidate answers asfor the overall question or otherwise related to them. The participantis instructed to select an answer which best fits the associated textfragment. For example, in the case of a mystery story, the drop down box92 may allow the participant to select a suspect from the list 38 ofsuspects that the clue provided in the text fragment makes look more (orless) guilty of the crime, e.g., by allowing the participant to selectbetween a tab labeled “exonerates” or “innocent” and another labeled“incriminates” or “guilty.” Or, the icon may allow the user to identify,for one or more of the suspects, whether the clue makes them appear moreor less likely to be the final answer (i.e., in the case of a mysterystory, more or less guilty of the crime). For example, as illustrated inFIG. 6, the participant selects the suspect “Theresa” by clicking on thebox next to that suspect. This displays two answers, “guilty” and“innocent.” The participant picks one of these answers, based on whetherhe or she deduces that Theresa is more likely to be guilty (orinnocent), based on the clue in the associated record 32. In oneembodiment, the final question 34 is provided by the icon 90 for thefinal record, rather than in a separate area 58.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6, each text fragment 32 provides anopportunity to assess whether the participant's deductive reasoningregarding that text fragment was correct. Each of these text fragmentsmay be seen as posing a sub-question which may have the same set ofcandidate answers as the overall question, as for the embodiment of FIG.2. A user identifies which sentences are clues by clicking on thecorresponding icons and answering the presented subquestion.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, each line of text is an individualrecord. Having each line of text be its own record means that even onsmall PDAs and hand held phones with small screens, the lines are eachkept unique. At the end of each line is an icon which serves as abutton. In the case of a mystery, the icon may be a magnifying glass.Clicking on this button brings up the list of suspects. In oneembodiment, next to each suspect's name is the option of “guilty” or“innocent.” Marking the suspect guilty means that the participantbelieves that the potential clue that begins on the marked line pointsto that suspect as being guilty. Marking the suspect innocent means thatthe potential clue that begins on that line points to the suspect beinginnocent. Other methods of marking the lines to evidence the deductivereasoning of the participant are contemplated. One such variant would beto click on the line of text itself to highlight it in some way. Oneclick may denote “guilty;” two clicks for “innocent,” or similar. Anysort of check boxes, drop down menu, scroll down menu, or the like tothe side of each line of text may be used to accomplish the same thing.

In the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein, only a subset of the textfragments are actual clues. All the text fragments are, however,potential clues. The participant's objective is to identify which textfragments are the actual clues and answer the associated sub-questionsof only those text fragments.

In other embodiments, all the text fragments may be clues.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary method for playing a web based gameusing the system of FIG. 1. The method begins at S100. At S102, aparticipant initiates play, e.g., interacts with the web browser toaccess the website for the interactive game. At S104, the participant isauthenticated and authorized to play. For example, the participant maybe asked for identification, such as a screen name and or password(illustrated at 46 in FIG. 2), which the server 14 may authenticateprior to displaying a game. The participant may be required to pay forthe game on a per game basis or may participate via a group contract,such as an annual contract with a fixed fee arranged with theparticipant's organization, e.g., school.

At S106, the game server 14 causes the game for that time period to bepresented, e.g., displayed, via the participant's web browser. The gameserver may cause the web browser to present, e.g., display the overallquestion 34 to be answered (either directly as shown in FIG. 2, or via adrop down box actuated by an icon or other selectively actuable displaymeans). The web browser is also caused to present, e.g., display, thepassage of text 31 constituting the mystery to be solved and from whichthe overall answer is to be deduced. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, thescreen may also display icons 90 associated with each record 32 in thepassage 31. In this embodiment, the participant may be required toanswer the sub-question associated with each icon 90 before proceedingto the next icon. Or, the participant may have the option to skip one ormore of the icons 90. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the participant maybe instructed to read the entire passage 31 before selecting only therequired number (e.g. 4) of sentences (in any order), which are cluesand for each one, answering the respective sub-question. The participantmay be given a fixed time to complete the game, i.e., to answer as manyof the sub-questions as he can and to provide the overall answer. At theend of the time period, the game server stores the participant's answersto the sub-questions and the overall answer (S108). After theparticipant clicks on “solve mystery” he is taken to a results page. Ifit is the new mystery of the day the page may inform the participantthat his results will be e-mailed to him the following day.

At this point, the participant may log off from the website and/or otherparticipants may play the game.

At S110, the game server 14 computes a score based on the participant'sanswers to the overall question 34 and sub-questions. The score may beused to compute the overall top scorer for that particular game and/or afixed time period. The scores may also be used to rank participants fromthe same class or school (which may be associated by master password(s))or to rank groups of participants, such as two or more schools orclasses.

At S112, information 96 derived from the scoring/ranking may be postedon the website and made accessible to the participants in the next timeperiod, such as the next day. Or, the information may be conveyed to theparticipants/holder of the master password by email, text message,telephone message, or other communication means. The information 96 maybe tailored to be readily understood by the participants, such as “Thewinner of yesterday's mystery is Mrs. Smith's class.” On the website,the winners or other ranking may be displayed only after participantlog-in so that the participant only sees information relevant to his orher user name or the master password or guild.

If the participant has accessed one of the archived mysteries, theparticipant's score may be accessed immediately.

The method ends at S114.

While in the exemplary embodiment, the text 31 is displayed visually onscreen, in other embodiments, which may be suited to the visuallyimpaired or non-readers, the text passage 31 may be presented in otherways, e.g. aurally. For example, the participant hears a recorded textover a loudspeaker 100 of the participant device 10, 12. The participantis able to rehear the text after hearing it through once and, using thekeypad or the like, to actuate a button when one of the text fragmentsin the set of text fragments is heard. The sub-question may then bepresented aurally, again on the loudspeaker 100 and the participantinputs an answer, e.g., through pressing selected button(s) on thekeypad. In other embodiments, the participant may be prompted to speakthe correct answer to a sub-question and/or overall question into amicrophone 22 associated with the participant device 10, 12. The spokenanswer(s) are received by the system and analyzed using voicerecognition techniques, e.g., by a processing application stored in thegame server memory 27.

The method illustrated in FIG. 7 may be implemented in a computerprogram product or products that may be executed on a computer. Thecomputer program product may be a tangible computer-readable recordingmedium on which a control program is recorded, such as a disk or harddrive, or may be a transmittable carrier wave in which the controlprogram is embodied as a data signal. Common forms of computer-readablemedia include, for example, floppy disks, flexible disks, hard disks,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic storage medium, CD-ROM, DVD, or anyother optical medium, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, or othermemory chip or cartridge, transmission media, such as acoustic or lightwaves, such as those generated during radio wave and infrared datacommunications, and the like, or any other medium from which a computercan read and use. As will be appreciated, the method may be implementedby two computer program products, one for the game server and one foroperating the web browser on the participant device.

The exemplary method may be implemented on one or more general purposecomputers, special purpose computer(s), a programmed microprocessor ormicrocontroller and peripheral integrated circuit elements, an ASIC orother integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hardwiredelectronic or logic circuit such as a discrete element circuit, aprogrammable logic device such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA, or PAL, or the like.In general, any device, capable of implementing a finite state machinethat is in turn capable of implementing the flowchart shown in FIG. 7,can be used to implement the method for playing the deductive reasoninggame.

The invention has been described with reference to the preferredembodiments. Obviously, modifications and alterations will occur toothers upon reading and understanding the preceding detaileddescription. It is intended that the invention be construed as includingall such modifications and alterations.

1. A computer implemented method comprising: presenting a text passageto at least one participant, the text passage comprising a set of textfragments, each of a subset of the set of text fragments providing aclue as to an answer to an overall question related to the text passage;providing for the participant to input answers to sub-questionsassociated with a group of the text fragments which the participantdeduces provide clues as to the answer to the overall question;providing for the participant to select an answer to the overallquestion; and computing a score for the at least one participant basedon the selected answer to the overall question and the input answers tothe sub-questions.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the text passagecomprises a mystery story and the overall question relates to theperpetrator of a crime described in the mystery story and the answer tothe overall question is the name of a suspect selected from a group ofsuspects.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the text passage comprises anon-fiction passage and the overall question relates to at least one ofa location, event, and person.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising ranking a group of participants based on the computed scores.5. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing of the score comprisescomputing a first score based on the answers of a first set ofparticipants; computing a second score based on the answers of a secondset of participants; and comparing the first and second scores.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the presenting includes displaying the textpassage on a screen.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the text passageis displayed by a web browser application on a participant's computingdevice.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising providing an activearea of the screen for each of the set of text fragments, which whenactuated, causes a sub-question associated with the respective textfragment to be displayed.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the activeareas of the screen are identified by one of icons and the displayedtext fragments.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein candidate answers foreach sub-question comprise candidate answers for the overall question orconcern the candidate answers for the overall question.
 11. The methodof claim 1, wherein each of the sub-questions requires the participantto indicate, based on the associated text fragment, whether aparticipant-selected one of the candidate answers is more or less likelyto be the answer to the overall question.
 12. The method of claim 1,wherein the participant's answer to the overall question is selectedfrom a set of candidate answers and the participant's answers to thesub-questions are all selected from the same set of candidate answers.13. The method of claim 1, wherein the participant's answer to theoverall question is selected from a set of candidate answers and thesub-questions are all questions each related to at least some of thesame set of candidate answers.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein thetext passage comprises at least one paragraph.
 15. The method of claim1, wherein the text fragments each comprise at least one sentence. 16.The method of claim 1, wherein the text fragments each comprise anindividual line of text.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein a respectivesub-question is associated with each of the text fragments the set oftext fragments.
 18. The method of claim 1, further comprisingidentifying, to the participant, how many of the text fragments are inthe subset.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the scoring penalizesthe participant for answering fewer or more sub-questions than theidentified number of the text fragments that are in the subset.
 20. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the participant is prompted to select, fromthe set of text fragments, only those text fragments that theparticipant considers are among the subset of text fragments whichprovide a clue as to a correct answer to the overall question and toanswer the respective sub-question for each.
 21. The method of claim 1,wherein the computing of the score includes reducing the score when theparticipant answers a sub-question associated with one of the textfragments which is not in the subset of text fragments.
 22. The methodof claim 1, wherein the computed score is also based on whether theparticipant has correctly identified each of the text fragments formingthe subset of text fragments from the text.
 23. The method of claim 1,further comprising causing the participant-selected text fragments to behighlighted.
 24. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing afixed time period for the participant to answer the overall question andsub-questions.
 25. A computer program product encoding instructions,which when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform themethod of claim
 1. 26. A printout of at least one screen displayed forperforming the method of claim
 1. 27. A system for playing a deductivereasoning game comprising: memory which stores instructions forpresenting a text passage to at least one participant, the text passagecomprising a set of text fragments, each of a subset of the set of textfragments providing a clue as to a correct answer to the overallquestion; a processor in communication with the memory which: receives aparticipant's selected answer to an overall question related to the textpassage, receives a participant's answers to sub-questions associatedwith selected ones of the set of text fragments, and computes a scorefor the at least one participant based on the selected answer to theoverall question and the received answers to the sub-questions.
 28. Thesystem of claim 27, wherein the score is a function of whether theparticipant has correctly identified each of the text fragments in thesubset of text fragments.
 29. A computer implemented method comprising:displaying on a screen a text passage describing a mystery to at leastone participant, the text passage comprising a set of text fragmentswhich includes a predefined subset of text fragments, each of the textfragments in the subset providing a clue as to an overall answer to themystery; optionally, identifying, to the at least one participant, howmany text fragments there are in the predefined subset of textfragments; providing for the participant to interactively select fromthe set of text fragments, a group of the text fragments and for each ofthe group of text fragments, to input an answer to a sub-question and toinput an answer an overall question related to solving the mystery;receiving the participant's input answers to the sub-questions and tothe overall question; computing a score for the at least one participantbased on the input answer to the overall question and the input answersto the sub-questions which takes into account whether the participantcorrectly identified the predefined subset of text fragments.